Watch a 12-Year Old Destroy in a Shredding Contest

There was plenty of guitar fireworks going on at the Welcome To Rockville festival this past weekend. Most of it was on the main stages, but some of it took place at The Music Experience, a traveling interactive musical instruments exhibit where Loudwire's Gear Factor host Squiggy held a shred-off between three lucky fans. The judge: Michael Paget of Bullet For My Valentine. The prize: a Paul Reed Smith guitar. Each musician had thirty seconds to impress with their best playing.

All three guitarists impressed but the crowd, and Paget, were won over by a young guy named Landon, who isn't yet in his teens. He won the guitar, and that may not even have been the most exciting thing that happened to him over the weekend. The night before, he was invited to join Sevendust on stage during their Welcome to Rockville performance. He'd met Sevendust guitarist Clint Lowery at the Music Experience that afternoon, and he invited the young guitarist to play a solo from the stage during their set.

Singer Lajon Witherspoon told the audience, "Make some noise for the future, right here!" And he's probably right - the kid probably doesn't have long before he's playing in a band on the Welcome to Rockville stage, and many others as well.